LAKELAND, Fla. (Oct. 7, 2008) — Florida Southern College’s Center for Florida History welcomes author Paul Schneider to the Florida Lecture Series on Oct. 16. Schneider will discuss “Brutal Journey: The Epic Story of the First Crossing of North America.” The lecture will start at 7 p.m. in the William M. Hollis Seminar Room of the Thad Buckner Building on the FSC campus. The event is free and open to the public. A book signing follows the lecture.

“We are delighted to have Paul Schneider with us,” said James Denham, professor of history and director of FSC’s Center for Florida History. “His fascinating story of Pánfilo de Narváez’s harrowing journey across America takes place 270 years before Lewis and Clark, and is one of one of North America’s great, yet unknown, adventures.”

Schneider attended Brown University and the School of Oriental and African Studies in London. After working with refugees in Thailand, students in Switzerland, and a brief career as a wire-service stringer in Kenya, Schneider settled into magazine journalism in New York City. He has written about environmental issues for Esquire, Vanity Fair, and the National Audubon Magazine. That work led to two books: “The Adirondacks: A History of America’s First Wilderness” (1998) and “The Enduring Shore: A History of Cape Cod, Martha’s Vineyard, and Nantucket” (2001). The subject of Schneider’s third book, “Brutal Journey: The Epic Story of the First Crossing of North America,” is the incredible story of Cabeza de Vaca’s 1528 journey across the southeastern portion of what is now the United States. A tale of adventure and survival filled with gripping scenes of battle, disease, starvation, and abject poverty, Schneider has weaved together a story the New York Times called “hard to believe, and impossible to forget.”

About the Florida Lecture Series
The Florida Lecture Series is produced by the Center for Florida History under the direction of Dr. James M. Denham. The program brings speakers to the Lakeland campus who approach the issue of “Florida Life and Culture” from a wide range of disciplines, including history, public affairs, law, sociology, criminology, anthropology, literature, music and art. Its overall objective is to create an opportunity for members of the community, faculty, and student body to listen to, interact with and learn from leading scholars and specialists of the state’s history and culture.